Middletown - Justin Pandolfe's accomplishments to date:

Strictly a junior varsity pitcher into late May.

Winning pitcher, league championship game, taking down defending state champion Fitch.

Winning pitcher, second round of the Class L tournament, sending Waterford High School to the state quarterfinals.

And now winning pitcher in the state semifinals, delivering the Lancers to the state championship game and in pursuit of the program's 10th title.

Pandolfe, a sophomore left-hander, saved his only 1-2-3 inning for the seventh Tuesday, giving the second-seeded Lancers a 2-0 win over No. 11 Notre Dame of West Haven, a four-time state champion, at Palmer Field.

Waterford will play No. 4 New Canaan, a 5-1 winner over No. 16 North Haven, in the championship game on Saturday at noon, also at Palmer Field.

"Are you kidding me? Are you absolutely kidding me?" Waterford coach Art Peluso said. "I don't have words to express how that kid has pitched, who he's beaten, when he's beaten them, where he's beaten them and how he's beaten them. Nothing phases him."

There is not a hint of exaggeration in Peluso's last statement, either. Pandolfe, not exactly overwhelmed by the moment, summarized it thusly:

"I've been here before," he deadpanned.

He's been there a whole month, actually. Which, of course, would invite the following question to Peluso:

What could have possibly taken so long to promote him to varsity?

Peluso grinned.

"You've got to cultivate left-handed pitchers," he said. "Let them pitch, get some innings. People think it's a freshmen team, JV team and varsity team. It's one program. You see what they're doing down there. Our JV coach (Kevin Dobo) said he pitches, he doesn't just throw the ball."

Pandolfe allowed baserunners in the first (picked him off), the second (left him stranded), third (called out on an appeal play) and fourth (left him stranded). He struck out four and walked none. He left another aboard in the fifth and two on in the sixth.

The run Notre Dame ultimately didn't score came to Pandolfe's surprise. Notre Dame third baseman Zach Korwek stood at third with one out and came home standing on Griffin Garabedian's apparent sacrifice fly. The Lancers quickly appealed, however, prompting home plate umpire John Christos to rule that Korwek left too early. Notre Dame coach Lou Kessler didn't argue.

"I was watching Seth Hoagland," Pandolfe said, alluding to Waterford's left fielder.

"The whole bench saw it," Peluso said. "And I came flying out."

The Lancers snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth when Kyle Willoughby capitalized on the shallow Notre Dame outfield and hammered a triple to right center, scoring Connor Lewis.

"I was looking fastball right down the middle and that's what I got," Willoughby said. "He (losing pitcher Greg Zullo) was throwing pretty hard. I didn't think I could get around on it that fast. But I did. And good things happened."

Peluso said, "Kyle is a six batter, but an unusual six batter. He has power to all fields. ... The (pitcher) was a little tired. He had only thrown 50 pitches the whole tournament. Kyle got a fastball and knew what to do with it."

Hoagland, who had two hits, scored Jesse Coates with an RBI single in the sixth.

Pandolfe pitched a quiet seventh. And the Lancers will compete for title No. 10.

"Jordan's pitching," Willoughby said of ace right-hander Jordan Hamler. "We're feeling pretty confident."

m.dimauro@theday.com